Torrington High School bullying log records absent, district compliance inconsistent

TORRINGTON >> School board-adopted and state-required record keeping of bullying incidents, which must be public, are inconsistently interpreted in Torrington schools.

Torrington High School, for example, presented no records whatsoever, on Friday when requested. The school made national news last week after revelations of widespread bullying of two 13-year-old girls whom two 18-year-old Torrington High School football players are charged with raping.

A policy known as the "Torrington Public Schools Safe School Climate Plan," posted on the Torrington Public Schools website by law, includes a provision stating the, "Verified acts of bullying log must be available to the public in the main offices."

In practice, however, record keeping of verified acts of bullying and investigations into possible acts of bullying vary widely. Some logs simply did not exist, according to administrators; others are complete with a ready explanation of the data.

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At each of Torrington's seven schools the verified acts of bullying log was locked in the principal's office, and a principal had to be retrieved to access the records. How investigations and numbers of incidents were reported varied.

Parents will not be able to access bullying logs through the district office or online. Anyone interested in looking at "public" data from all of Torrington's seven schools will need to drive to each school individually and wait for a principal to be fetched. When schools were visited and principals were not available, records were also not available.

In some cases, principals insisted on giving numbers of incidents investigated verbally, and refused access to written logs. Other principals refused to make copies of written logs. Some logs were kept by date, month and year; others by month; still others by month and year. Some logs included only the current year's data. One school's log included three years' worth of data.

Some logs simply did not exist, because the schools don't have a "bullying problem," such as Forbes School according to behaviorist Paula LaChance.

The Torrington High School verified acts of bullying log is a black, three-ring binder, which is locked in the principal's office. Once supplied, after two requests in two days due to the principal's absence, the verified acts of bullying log did not have a log of bullying incidents investigated or acts of bullying. The binder contained only a copy of Torrington Public Schools policy, "Bullying Behavior in Schools," and forms a complainant could fill out.

High school principal Joanne Creedon said Torrington High School did not have any verified acts of bullying, only "isolated incidents," which were investigated. Despite an in-person request, Creedon did not supply the number of possible acts of bullying investigated by the high school administration by press time, and Creedon declined to provide a range of the number of investigations conducted.

According to a statewide July 2011 report by the Connecticut Commission on Children, "fully 25 percent of Connecticut high school students--and 35 percent of the state's ninth graders--report having been bullied or harassed on school property in [2010]."

Superintendent Cheryl Kloczko did not immediately respond to a phone call for comment on the matter of bullying logs.

"We go according to the definition of bullying in our policy," said Creedon, explaining the absence of logs.

Board policy defines bullying as, "any overt acts by a student or group of students against another student with the intent to ridicule, harass, humiliate, or intimidate the other student while on school grounds, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored activity, which acts are committed more than once during the school year."

Off-campus acts can also be considered bullying if, "they have a direct negative impact on a student's academic performance or safety in school." The policy addresses cyber bullying as use of "email, instant messaging, text messaging, blogging or the use of social media networking websites."

Despite public acknowledgements of hazing among Torrington football team members, one of only a smattering of offenses which require an expulsion hearing, it's possible, for example, that hazing could not qualify as bullying if it only occurred one time.

One Torrington school keeping comprehensive records is Torrington Middle School. Administrators there shed a light on a Connecticut state mandate some administrators say is time consuming but worthwhile.

"This is a really good law. It has some meat to it finally," said Mary Ann Buchanan, an administrator in the Torrington Middle School. "It takes an amazing amount of time," she said.

Buchanan estimates TMS administrators spent 183.3 days cumulatively in the 2011-2012 school year disciplining students, including investigations into 27 possible acts of bullying, six of which were confirmed acts of bullying.

The figures, said Buchanan, don't represent, "the success side of what we stopped." Middle school administrators' almost daily use of the possible bullying log fills it with confidential information, and the administrators don't keep a log for public viewing. The figures were given verbally.

Connecticut's anti-bullying law was first enacted in 2002, but updated in July 2011. Although the bullying law "require[s] the principal of a school...to notify the appropriate local law enforcement agency when such principal, or the principal's designee, believes that any acts of bullying constitute criminal conduct," there is not "cyber bullying," law in Connecticut statutes.

Rather, perpetrators of cyber bullying would be prosecuted under a spate of separate Connecticut statutes such as "harassment" or "threatening."

"If 'bullying' you means saying nasty stuff about people, it's protected by the first amendment. It's not polite, but it's not a crime," said Mike Lawlor, Under Secretary for Criminal Justice Policy and Planning for Connecticut.

Lawlor said the free speech "borderline," is, "When you're saying things that are inciting a riot, or saying there's a bomb in an airport, or yelling fire in a crowded theater. Those things are going to be charged with a crime," he said, for example breach of peace.

Harassment can only be charged if the victim of "bullying," is harassed with "specific intent to intimidate or harass another person or group of persons," according to Connecticut statute. Lawlor said he believes, for example, email would have to be sent directly to the victim.

Juveniles may be prosecuted more easily for some instances of harassment. Juvenile court allows "status offenses," which are not crimes, to be heard. Cases of runaways could be heard in juvenile court, for example.

Torrington Police spokesperson Mike Emanuel said, "We have reached out and contacted the families regarding the inappropriate language that was online and at this point in time they're satisfied with the way the school has dealt with the situation, and it has not risen to the level of a criminal investigation or a criminal complaint."

"I am not saying that what said, what was written, what was put over the internet in terms of tweeting and Facebook was proper, ethical, fair. It was mean-spirited, it was downright -- it was horrible. And I think it was improper, but that's for all to see," said Emanuel.

While courts struggle with balancing free speech and protecting victims of harassment, one of Torrington's schools is keeping tremendous records of its activities investigating possible bullying incidents.

Vogel-Wetmore Elementary School principal Pamela Dzurilla keeps records of investigations into possible bullying incidents for the past three years on hand and viewable. The records are kept in her office, but she keeps a page of records ready for public viewing despite that no one has ever asked.

"At the elementary level, this is an important piece of what we discuss and support," said Dzurilla about the "safe schools" program she's put into place.

Torrington's second largest elementary school, at about 470 students, Vogel-Wetmore has an approximately 30 percent annual student turnover, a rate Dzurilla admits is high.

Dzurilla says the statistic reflects the characteristics of the neighborhood, a "rental neighborhood," in her words. Dzurilla is Vogel-Wetmore's only administrator.

A total of 87 possible bullying incidents have been investigated by Dzurilla and a social worker in the 2012-2013 school year; 31 in 2011-2012; and 25 in the 2010-2011 school year.

"Sometimes, it was just rejection. 'He didn't want to play with me,'" said Dzurilla. "It can be very time consuming, but I have found it well worth the time," she said.

A six-year Vogel-Wetmore administrator, Dzurilla said, "In this building, I can remember one student who truly fit that meaning of 'bully.' We worked very hard to turn that around," including home visits.

"Sometimes, there's a lot going on for these little people," Dzurilla said.

Torrington's other elementary schools provided the current school year's data on investigated acts of bullying.

At East School, four possible acts of bullying were investigated. However, when asked for a copy of the investigation log, which included months and tally marks, and no further information, Principal Susan Fergusson said, "I don't have to show you anything."

Torringford School Principal Cathleen Todor gave a report of possible incident of bullying investigated verbally, one in September, one in November and one in February. Asked for dates of incidents, she said, "We just have to report it by month."